- Collection:
- Oral Histories of the American South: The Civil Rights Movement
- Title:
- Oral history interview with James Atwater, February 28, 2001
- Creator:
- Atwater, James, 1932-
- Contributor to Resource:
- Nardone, Jennifer
Southern Oral History Program - Date of Original:
- 2001-02-28
- Subject:
- African Americans--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Lincoln High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Segregation in education--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Race relations--20th century
African Americans--North Carolina--Chapel Hill--Social life and customs--20th century
African Americans--North Carolina--Chapel Hill--Attitudes
Orange County Training School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Chapel Hill (N.C.)-- Race relations - People:
- Atwater, James, 1932-
- Location:
- United States, North Carolina, Orange County, 36.0613, -79.1206
United States, North Carolina, Orange County, Chapel Hill, 35.9132, -79.05584 - Medium:
- transcripts
sound recordings
oral histories (literary works) - Type:
- Text
Sound - Format:
- text/html
text/xml
audio/mpeg - Description:
- James Atwater discusses life in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from the 1930s to the 1950s. Atwater grew up in Chapel Hill, as did his parents and grandparents. In this interview, he discusses how neighbors in the black community interacted in various social, religious, and academic activities. He also talks about the impact of segregation on this community and on the schools. White supremacy in Chapel Hill was easily maintained by the community's reliance on the University of North Carolina. Atwater's parents worked for UNC, as did many other black residents, so they were directly dependent on white university officials for their finances. Much of his consciousness about segregation in Chapel Hill came from comparing it to places such as Durham, Carrboro, and Philadelphia. He left Chapel Hill in the 1950s.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. - Metadata URL:
- http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/K-0201/menu.html
- Language:
- eng
- Extent:
- Title from menu page (viewed on July 11, 2007).
Interview participants: James Atwater, interviewee; Jennifer Nardone, interviewer.
Duration: 01:18:24.
This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.
Text encoded by Mike Millner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers. - Contributing Institution:
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project)
- Rights:
-
